This is a parasite. If you see it under the hood, seek professional help
Posted on 03/22/2015 3:30:31 PM PDT by waterhill
I am trying to help a friend with her truck. It is draining the battery. It is a 98 ford, which I detest (loyal Gmc owner). My meter is reading 12.76 V on the battery terminals. When I hook up the posi and jump my meter from the neg term to the neg cable, I get -12.76. This truck is sitting on top of a water puddle (we are wet out here this spring) and I refuse to crawl under it.
I know there are a lot of people here that have this, I just get creeped out by fords and lose my mind around them.
Help!!!
Good idea! You can even use an AM radio to detect the sparking much more sensitively than you nan detect by eye. Of course you won’t be able to use your car radio for this purpose. Well actually maybe you could as long as the drain isn’t on the same fuse circuit that carries the radio supply current.
A close to dead battery will read 12 volts because there is no load on it. Try jumping the battery. My wife’s car sat in the garage from Jan to the end of Feb. The battery was dead and had to be jumped.
Yeah, and do it quickly, at first. Most multi-meters of my acquaintance don’t like much more than micro-amps of current.
So you obviously have an abnormal parasitic load (draw).
‘minerals in regular water will adhere to the plates and will weaken battery.’
Exactly. Lead plates in old style batteries had small holes that the minerals would stop up, leading to weaker charge and shorter duration of charge.
If you keep sparking the battery you will be sure to blow the computer.
Hey I git ya parasitic load right here!
I have the same problem with my 2006 silverado Z71.
I detest GM products but this one got me what I wanted and at an affordable price. So here I am.
In my case we don’t drive it very often and it’s one of those vehicles that has so much drain from “always on” electronics that our solution is to just drive it at least once a week. Otherwise it dies.
Windshield leak (common problem). Water drips down and shorts the GEM module. Drains battery.
Good luck reaching the GEM module. Mine finally dried out by itself and went back to normal.
As I said before, put the test light between the battery and the disconnected battery terminal- this will act as your amp meter- dim light is normal and a bright light shows a draw. Pull fuses one at a time.
Very good point. Don't do that.
well maybe if you put a 10k resistor in series with the spark...
Was there a penny in the fuse box?
But the battery should measure 13.8 volts when not running connected or loose from battery cables, 13v or less means the battery is failing.
Auto parts stores here will test the battery free why don't you try that...
Around 20 years ago my Sister gave me a 91 Crown Vic. It was in nice shape but a few things didn’t work. The only one which was important was the water temp gauge didn’t work.
I drove it for a few months and realized I really needed that gauge to work.
One day a guy was visiting. I had done him a favor so it was a good time to ask him if he could tell me what was wrong with the gauge.
Well he opened the hood, touched something and told me the temperature sender was bad. It did not take him more than 5 seconds. He showed me where it was and said it was cheap and easy to replace. Sure enough it was.
It sure was nice to have a meter working.
Just mentioned this because it is surprising what a guy can do who knows what he is doing.
You might be able to hook the meter up to your battery and pull one fuse at a time and see where the problem is if you have an understanding of that kind of thing. Assuming the short is on the other side of the fuse block.
Two people it can go pretty quick.
It could be wet tail or headlights or a bad brake light switch. Those are easy to check first.
13v won’t hurt you at all.
No but 400 amps flowing through a wedding ring sure can.
Same reason you have to decalcify your coffee pot.
Use distilled water in irons, steamers, and when cleaning your coffee pot. Distilled water is made from steam. After all the water is boiled away what’s left is the crud that screws appliances up. Tastes good too.
When I was a kid, I got shocked by the plug wire of a Whizzer bicycle motor. It literally knocked me down. I think it was only 6 volts.
This is a parasite. If you see it under the hood, seek professional help
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